Derek Shannon, MS

Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. is a high-tech research and
development corporation specializing in applications of plasma physics,
including fusion power and high-power X-ray sources.

Their lead project is the development of a clean-energy fusion generator
using a dense plasma focus (DPF) fusion reactor and proton-boron (pB11)
fuel, an approach they call “Focus Fusion”. This work, which was
initially
funded by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and now investor-funded, is
aimed at producing an extremely economical, compact, environmentally
safe and virtually unlimited source of energy that would be at least ten
times cheaper than any existing energy source. They have already
achieved
major
experimental milestones, including the achievement of plasma confinement
at energies equivalent to two billion degrees, high enough to fuse
hydrogen and boron. They are carrying out new experiments with their
“Focus
Fusion-1” experimental reactor in Middlesex, NJ.

Derek is a business development consultant and technologist with
a scientific mindset
and proven experience in taking small research companies to the next
level. He focuses on technological development efforts with breakthrough
positive social and environmental potential, including such areas as
clean energy and transit, artificial intelligence software, aerospace
technology, materials science, and communication of scientific concepts
to the general public.

His specialties include:
venture capital evaluation and strategy, nonprofit creation and
operations, government grants and collaborations, legislation (lobbying
and authorship), corporate sponsorships, and team-building and
coordination.

Derek earned his BS in Geobiology at the
California Institute of Technology in 2002. He
earned his MS in Geobiology and Astrobiology at the
University of Southern California in 2006 with the thesis
Elemental
Analysis as a First Step Towards “Following the Nitrogen” on
Mars.
He earned his Technology Commercialization Certificate at the
University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business in 2006.